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Magic the Gathering: First Half 2026 Review
Image Credit: Wizards of the Coast
Loading...With 2026 over halfway over, this is a great chance to take a look at the four Magic the Gathering sets that have come out in 2026.
Below, we have micro-reviews of Lorwyn Eclipsed, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Secrets of Strixhaven and Marvel Super Heroes. Read on to take a look at the highlights so far.
Lorwyn Eclipsed
Lorwyn Eclipsed was an interesting choice to start 2026 off on. It brought players back to the plane of Lorwyn, one that hadn’t been used much in numerous years.
Since the last time we saw it, the plane has been split into Lorwyn itself, but also the darker Shadowmoor. This split of more fanciful cards and creatures of a more sinister nature is what is at the heart of Lorwyn Eclipsed.
The set features 279 cards, some of which feature the new mechanics Blight and Vivid. Blight weakens creatures you control with -1/-1 counters to activate abilities, while Vivid rewards you with better abilities the more different types of mana you have.
As for the cards themselves, the Lorwyn cards definitely carry a much lighter tone and look than the Shadowmoor counterparts. The Bitterblossom from Lorwyn past makes a pseudo-return in Bitterbloom Bearer, becoming a creature that makes you lose a life to gain a blue/black flying Faerie, instead of an enchantment as it was in the past.
Overall, for traditional MtG fans, Lorwyn Eclipsed was a great start to the year to revisit a plane not talked about nearly as much as others.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This was one of the two sets I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced. Growing up watching TMNT, I wanted to see what MtG could do with the universe.
One of the key mechanics I want to talk about early on is Character Select. A variant on the Partner mechanic, this mechanic is only used in the Commander decks, letting you have two commanders at once between four turtles with the ability to switch between them. It’s a great implementation to have it harken back to the old games where you could shift between turtles.
The other mechanic I’ll touch on is Mutagen. Mutagen is like others that create artifact tokens. The difference is these tokens can be sacrificed to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature, effectively powering them up by “mutating” them. Again, this is a neat concept that matches the style of the set.
As for the cards themselves, I loved the style of the artwork in this set. From cards that feature scenes from the TV show, to scenes from a comic book to stylized designs, there’s plenty of fans to love and recall from their favorite parts of the series.
Personally, I loved the pixel art cards, pulling a Shredder, Shadow Master myself. I’d love to eventually find all of them, especially Heroes in a Half Shell.
Quickly, I also want to touch on a few of the items they included in the set outside of the boosters and Commander Deck. The Pizza Bundle features 9 play boosters, a collector booster, two promo cards and a fun collectable dice, along with some unique Land cards. The other item I enjoyed was the Turtle Team-Up. A co-op experience for up to 4 people, newcomers can team up with more experienced players to take on an automated boss deck. It’s a great entry point for new players that may enjoy the source content but haven’t really dabbled in MtG.
Overall, I know the Universes Beyond sets aren’t always a big hit with fans of the main MtG series, but I appreciate the attention that the team put into the set to try and bring fans in from other series.
Secrets of Strixhaven
We’re back to the School of Strixhaven with Secrets of Strixhaven, the second planar expansion for the series this year. The five houses of the school make a return, but students to the school are now coming in from the multiverse, leading to a broader variety of creatures and abilities.
The two mechanics I’ll focus on from Secrets is Prepare and Paradigm. Cards with Prepare are creatures with an instant or sorcery attached on the card. If the creature is prepared, either through entering the game or through some specific qualifiers, they can cast their attached spell for free before becoming unprepared. For most creatures, you can’t prepare again unless a card leaves the field and enters again, but others can prepare several times.
Paradigm, only seen in a few spells in this set, can be a tide-turner the earlier it’s played. After playing and exiling the card, during every first main phase from then on, you can copy the spell and use it for free turn after turn. It’s great to reuse some better abilities in late game, especially at no cost.
As for the cards themselves, the Mystical Archive cards become the star of the set for me. Each sorcery card has special artwork on display, but the best are the Japanese-style cards, complete with Japanese writing and art. They are great designs to show off.
As for the commander decks, each one is based around the five houses from the school with mana splits for each one, letting fans of specific houses or builds have their pick of the litter. Personally, I liked Silverquill Influence, which is a black/white mix that gives more control elements to direct attacks elsewhere.
For a base MtG set, Secrets of Strixhaven was another strong entry, with plenty of mana mixes and spells that can be main features in almost any deck out there.
Marvel Super Heroes
The latest set to come out a few weeks ago, we return to Universes Beyond with a full Marvel Super Heroes set.
The set comes with a few nice mechanics that fit the motif of super heroes The first, Power-up, are one-time use abilities with a good pay-off, and can even be cast at a discount if cast on the same turn the card enters. Next up is Teamwork, which can add strong abilities by tapping other creatures with power equal to what the card asks. For instance, on a Teamwork 4 ability, you can tap one creature with a power of 4 or higher, two creatures with a power of 2 or 3, or four creatures with a power of 1.
Finally, we come to Plan. Found in villain cards, these abilities let you put a counter on a card each time you do a certain action. Get enough plan counters, and eventually you can sacrifice the enchantment for a bigger ability.
Like most of the Universes Beyond sets, the special art cards really shine here. You have the logo cards, featuring heroes and villages with their names behind them; panel cards, which look like scenes from the comics; cards with actual scenes from the comics; and my favorite, the iconic cover cards. I got lucky and actually hit a Thanos iconic cover card, one of the main highlights I pulled from the set.
The other highlight for me was The Mind Stone, the second of the Infinity Stones now released. While the one I pulled was the standard non-holo card, it’s a great pull none-the-less. Not as powerfull as The Soul Stone, this one allows you to add a plain land until it’s harnessed, then you can exile a target nonland permanent you control at your end step, which can then return to the battlefield under its owner’s control, effectively helping to reset some abilities.
As for commander decks, there are four to choose from this time. Avengers Assemble focuses on enhancing heroes with equipment; Wakanda Forever centers around artifacts and enhancing abilities with them; The Fantastic Four gives four commanders to select from each with a solo color ability and one that needs each mana type to use; and finally Doom Prevails, the villain deck with plenty of plans to try out.
Overall, like the TMNT set, I feel this is another strong point for the Universes Beyond series, but I can see how this may be starting to burn some people out, especially with one more UB set coming out this year. Personally, I loved the set and know there are plenty more heroes out there I’d love to add to my collection (looking at you, Wolverine).
